The Resurrection of the Bare Breasted Countess: Jess Franco's FEMALE VAMPIRE reissued on Blu-Ray and DVD!

Jesus Franco...the name seems to intrigue some and send others running.  I'm one of a small cult of followers who actually loves the man and his films!  I mean really, any man that the Vatican can call "the most dangerous director in the world" deserves my attention.  Franco has directed over 180 films of almost every genre.  A lot of them leave something to be desired (Oasis of the Zombies, Devil Hunter, The Inconfessable Orgies of Emmanuelle) but some are downright incredible (The Diabolical Dr. Z, Succubus, Vampyros Lesbos, A Virgin Among The Living Dead, etc.).  Regardless of what his critics say, Franco is a master of eroticism and horror.  Pair those two elements together and you get some of his best works, like his 1973 masterpiece Female Vampire!

FEMALE VAMPIRE

Countess Irina (Lina Romay) is a beautiful, mute vampire forced to live a lonely existence.  Anybody she makes love to has to die.  You see, Irina is not your average vampire.  She's on a liquid diet that comes from below the belt (yep, it's that kind of movie).  Returning to her ancestor's home on the island of Madeira, Irina seduces a few unfortunate looking European men before literally sucking the life out of them.  Even the ladies aren't safe from her methods!  Things get more difficult for Irina when she meets and falls in love with a lonely poet (cult favorite Jack Taylor), who wants to join her for enternity among the undead.  Will Irina ever know true love or will her insatiable appetite for oral pleasure ruin it yet again?

This has to be the saddest porno ever made.  Well, the film is not exactly a porno (although a hardcore version was released under the title The Swallowers) but rather a horror tale with a lot of atmosphere and even more softcore sex scenes.  Still, despite its ridiculous plot and slow pacing, there is something about Female Vampire that I think makes it a truly beautiful film.  I guess I feel this way because of the story behind the film.  Apparently Female Vampire (or La Comtesse Noire as it was originally titled) was supposed to star Franco's original muse and starlet, Soledad Miranda.  After her tragic death in a car accident at the age of 27, Franco began turning out more bizarre and personal films before finding new inspiration in Lina Romay.   After appearing in several small roles for the director, Romay was cast as the lead in Female Vampire and she and Franco continued a 40-year relationship (both working and physical) until her death from cancer in February of this year. 

Lina Romay is the main reason to watch this film.  A true exhibitionist, she was the perfect match for a voyeur like Franco.  Regardless of if the film was good or terrible, Romay commanded your attention with her remarkable beauty in every frame.  Along with Franco's depraved masterpiece Lorna...The Exorcist, Romay gives her finest performance in Female Vampire; and considering that her character is mute throughout the film, that's saying something!  A lot of screentime is dedicated to showing Romay simply rolling around on her bed completely nude (with the exception of a pair of black leather boots...and they are nice boots!) or Franco repeatedly zooming into her crotch without bothering to focus the shot afterwards; but even so, Romay is able to convey complete sensuality and sadness so well, you'll be sheding a tear while being turned on all at once!  Try and pull that off Meryl!

Continuing their line of EuroCult classics in HD presentations, Kino Lorber and Redemption Films bring Female Vampire to Blu-Ray and DVD in a beautiful transfer.  Previously available on DVD from Image Entertainment, this new anamorphic widescreen transfer (which offers both the original French audio track with subtitles and the English dub) is much sharper than the previous release and includes some great extras to boot!  Not only do you get the 100 minute erotic version of Female Vampire, but also the 70 minute horror cut of the film titled The Bare Breasted Countess (or Erotikill as it's listed on the packaging).  This version cuts out all the sex scenes and a good chunk of nudity and replaces them with alternate footage of Irina draining her victims from the neck.  Also included is a featurette entitled "Words for Lina", in which French film critic and Romay's co-star in the film, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, discusses who Lina was as a person and her remarkable relationship with Franco.  The best supplement on the disc is a short interview with Franco titled "Destiny in Soft Focus".  Here the director talks about his idea to make a film about a 'nice' vampire who is forced to kill, shooting on Madeira, meeting and falling in love with Romay, and how her death has persuaded him to continue making movies.  Rounding out the extras are trailers for Franco's Female Vampire and Exorcism, as well as the trailers for three Jean Rollin films previously released by Kino/Redemption.  Sink your teeth into Female Vampire and add a little kink to your horror collection!